Rufus and Annette Carey sell a wide range of fruit at Grey Lynn Farmers Market on Sunday mornings.
We asked the pair to tell us about their lives and their business.
How did you meet?
A: I bought my first house with a friend and Rufus turned up to our housewarming party. We hit it off and now have two adult children.
Was that in Grey Lynn?
A: No - we moved to Grey Lynn 32 years ago when I was pregnant and needed to live close to work.
R: A few years later we bought the neighbouring old terrace house in the Grey Lynn shops to fit our growing and extended family. It’s been a wonderful base, full of fun family memories.
Were you in the fruit business back then?
R: No - I was working for a large chemical multinational until they were bought out and I set up my own chemical and medical supplies company.
A: And I was running the call centre for PanAm.
That’s different from selling fruit.
A: Rufus has always been an entrepreneur. He had a dream of growing Christmas trees.
R: We bought an old apple orchard in Hawkes Bay and used the lower half to grow Christmas trees. It was everything that I hoped for.
How did you get from Christmas trees to fruit?
R: We still had half the apple orchard. Starting with selling from an honesty box at the gate, expanding to a shop in our carport, we grew to supplying many of the big supermarkets in Hawkes Bay.
So you were an orchardist?
R: Yes - and we knew many orchardists. We learnt how to recognise the best quality suppliers and which were spray-free. We still have strong connections to Longlands Road, even staying in a cottage that we built on our orchard.
What was the next twist in your journey?
A: Back to Auckland, where we opened a boutique fruit shop in Onehunga stocking much of the produce from our old Longlands Road neighbours. We developed a loyal following until the landlord developed the land and we had to move.
Where did you move to?
R: We morphed into a pop-up fruit shop, selling outside Kings Plant Barn in St Lukes for a while before settling into our weekly pattern at the farmers market, close to our terrace home.
Tell me about your experience at Grey Lynn Farmers Market.
A: Getting to know the loyal customers who come back every week is what gets me out of bed early on Sunday mornings - it’s like our local village square.
R: And we love being part of a community of stallholders who support each other and enjoy each other’s company.
Do you have a favourite fruit?
R: Summer stone fruit is our hero range - nectarines, peaches, plums, apricots, and of course cherries! They are delicious and we love being able to showcase the excellent produce from our Longlands Road neighbours. We were surrounded by stone fruit - our apple orchard was the odd one out.
And when you aren’t working, do you have hobbies?
A: Our adult children and extended family are a big part of our life. We love socialising with friends and we always make time for a skiing getaway in winter.
www.greylynnfarmersmarket.co.nz
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